Almost everyone I talk to about their marketing goals is in a hurry. They want results, and they want them now. Nevermind the fact that they've sat on the sidelines for the last 5 years while their competition has been building, they think hiring the right inbound marketing agency will be the key to total dominance.

What they don't realize is that they're facing an uphill battle. The bottom line is that if you want inbound marketing to produce results you have to have a lot of pieces in place. You're about to enter an inbound arms race and until you have some weapons stockpiled you shouldn't expect to win the war.

Inbound Marketing Is Like The Art Of War, You Have To Build If You Want To Win

It’s a saturated digital marketplace, to say the least, we certainly have our work cut out for us when we compare your starting point to each competitor’s current state. The fact is your campaign isn't going to dominate until you build enough weapons. Those weapons can be deployed, but not before they're ready. If you want to play the game of inbound marketing war you better start building weapons.

There’s a lot of wood to chop, we’re going into an arms race as a third world country and the world leaders have a big head start. Think of every piece of published content in any form another weapon, we need to build a huge stockpile if we want to go to war.

Think of Your Blog Like It's Your Infantry

Every article you publish is like another soldier on the front line. You're going to need a lot of troops if you want to make a push for victory, your blog is the answer. Build a library of resourceful articles and you'll have the infantry you need to drive your competition from their foothold atop search engines and pepper your prospects with value.

Envision Every Social Post As A Shot Fired Across The Bow

Social posts are small arms, but they add up. The more you post and more you engage with your community the more results you'll see. Every now and then you'll hit the mark, and a post will go viral. You'll effectively expose your message and website to a whole new audience and the traffic and leads will flow. You may have to fire 10,000 shots before you hit someone in the face, but when you do it will be glorious. Just don't expect the magic to happen in your first couple hundred posts.

Every Email Sent Is A Negotiation With Your Primary Targets

Once you know your target you have to attack them if you want to win. Put together a negotiation strategy in the form of automated workflows to stay front of mind while your target considers their options. If you can send the right message and resources to the right people at the right time you'll beat your enemy to market when the target decides they're ready to buy.

Each Piece of Premium Content Is A Nuclear Warhead

Having something in your arsenal worth giving up contact information in order to access is crucial when you're trying to win the war. The more pieces of premium content focused at specific points in the buyer's journey the more chance you'll have to make an impact. Position your content in the right places and promote it effectively to hammer your enemies and get in front of key prospects before they do.

Search Engine Optimization Is Your Special Forces Team

The world of search is a murky place, where battles are fought in darkness and illusion. If you want to be found by your prospects you'll have to develop and execute a sound search engine strategy. Make sure you stay atop the ever-changing best practices while mind off-site, on-site, and local listings to sneak up on your competition before ending up behind enemy lines. Once you've penetrated the lines you'll find yourself scooping up the treasures that await those who work their way to the top of search results.

Your Marketing Team Should Call The Shots Like The General

You might think you should be in charge of the surge, but you probably shouldn't. What you really need is an experienced, season team of inbound marketing generals ready to lead the charge. Hire a team you can trust and give them the reigns. Trust them to execute an excellent strategy and you'll find yourself sitting on top of the mountain before winter.

Win The War By Building Every Unit of Your Army

You're not going to win the war if you don't build. You might think this inbound marketing thing is going to be easy, but I assure you there's no magic red button to push. You have to build, build, build. Get to work and don't delay. Don't expect to win the war until you have the troops and arms to compete with the big boys. To the victor goes the spoils, if you don't want to win you probably shouldn't play.

Eric founded Revenue River in 2009 and has driven it into one of the most successful digital marketing agencies in the country. He wears many hats at Revenue River, while running the company is his job, he’s happy to be on the ground floor in the marketing and sales departments whenever the opportunity arises. On the rare occasions that Eric isn’t working, he’s somewhere in the high country stalking game or with his wife and two kids cheering on the Seahawks.